Chad Brooks: Worship, Society and the inbreaking kingdom

December 31, 2011

Over the last month or so, I have been drumming up folks to read scripture together in the new year. Last week, John Meunier also mentioned reading Wesley's Standard 52 through the year and some people expressed interest in doing so together.

I like reading with people, even if our only connection is via the internet. To facilitate greater interaction, I started two simple little blogs for both projects. They will be tweaked out in greater measure over the next few days, but if you are interested in either project, consider joining and contributing to them sites.

October 11, 2011

Over the last few months, controversy has surrounded movie provider Netflix. Netflix allows members to rent movies via traditional mail as well as provides streaming content. In many American households Netflix gets its own line item in the budget. I have had their service off and on for almost 10 years.

Starting this summer, the company drastically started lost membership by increasing subscription fees. Then earlier this fall, the company announced it was starting an additional company to handle its mail order DVD service, and Netflix would only concentrate on streaming content. Multiple problems arose and Netflix took a pretty heavy loss, with half the stock value dropping last month.

Yesterday they announced they are not moving to the two company structure and are going back to the previous model, as well as not changing pricing structures again. While some agree that this change back was needed, others see it as an attempt to cover their bottom line and hopefully regain capital and their momentum as a market leader. Serious street cred has been lost.

The situation can really speak into how churches make shifts in their various services/offerings and programs.

1. Major shifts cannot be made behind closed doors with a select group.While we can't expect a company to announce, "Hey we will be raising prices...what do you think is fair?", a certain level of transparency is expected today. Certainly the folks at Netflix thought this was all a good idea and would provide a better experience. But ultimately, they assumed a value that simply wasn't true.

In churches we often make some pretty major decisions with just a couple of people. A few years back at Willow Creek's leadership summit, Bill Hybels surprised the crowds by openly admitting his previous idea of leadership was flawed. Where in the past he felt folks needed him to come up with these dramatic plans and then implement them, in fact the church themselves wanted to be part of visioning process.

Current younger generations feel a level of ownership inside their churches and calling them to leadership means making them involved in the process of leadership...not just shoring it up. Innovation implementation should go through the hands of the people. After all, it is their community we are trying to impact.

Don't drop major shifts in peoples laps.

2. Cultural patterns inform shifts.Netflix was attempting to read a hole in the market. Their new split program allowed them to rent video games as well as movies. While this move did provide a new service, it did so at the expense of many other things. Namely, for folks who wanted to both get content by mail as well as by stream, two accounts would need maintenance. For an increasingly mobile world it doesn't work. This one positivc change didn't override the other negative changes

Any sort of shifts we feel are important for church must take cultural patterns seriously. Things have changed!

Years ago, the only movie rental option was your local Blockbuster. No matter if the movie was in, if it was in good shape or quality of customer service, almost everyone had a Blockbuster card. You couldn't get around it. You dealt with the negatives because you wanted to rent Ernest Goes to Camp.

Now there are options. You can stream through several places, you can rent through Redbox, you can drop by a brick and motor or you can use Netflix by mail. We aren't that loyal either. Whatever is the quickest way to get a movie usually is the option we take.

Church is the same way. We need to take in account for contextual shifts. This might mean worship at a time beyond Sunday morning, small groups meeting in non-traditional locations or exploratory looks at worship music. The local context shapes how the local church worships.

Remember that people LOVED Netflix before these issues. Loyalty is a increasingly relative concept in our times. When church begins to no longer make sense, it will show and people don't have emotional attachements as strong as in the past.

When investigating a shift remember culture matters.

3. Shifts always lead to better culture.In the past, single provider business could make these sort of monumental decisions. That is why we have monopoly laws. Netflix could have assumed people would just roll with these changes because they needed the product that much. Netflix, as a company embraced by new media and business, acted very much with an old and outdated model. They neglected to bring what consumers now value the most; a better culture.

In church, we have to consistently be thinking about how our shifts lead to a better expression of the gospel of Jesus and the proclamation of the in-breaking Kingdom of God. If our shifts do not provide a better expression of this, we aren't being faithful to our mission.

By drawing into "butt cover mode" these new recovery shifts by Netflix also failed to provide better culture. A bad taste was left in the mouth of the customer.

When having these discussions in a church context we have to remember the fine line between prophetic voice and worship consumption. We aren't selling a product, but we are in the business of gospel transformation. We have a different set of rules we play by. Sometimes what we do doesn't make fiscal sense...but it makes kingdom sense.

September 26, 2011

Unless you ran a marathon in Antarctica last week, you have noticed the changes in Facebook. While the uproar mostly consists of individual users, the changes in content management mean churches and ministries will need to reexamine how they use Facebook in light of the new controls and settings.

How to do that? David Berkowitz, senior director of emerging media and innovation for 360i, says Facebook will now be about branding actions. “Before on Facebook it was about getting people to ‘Like’ the brand,” he says. “Now, it’s about getting people to take social actions enabled by that brand.” For example, if a consumer posts an update about a run they just took, that’s a prime opportunity for Nike. “If your run is powered by Nike, you might still wear Adidas,” says Berkowitz, “but Adidas will have to find something else that’s social about its brand to become part of your story.”

The new custom settings allow Facebook to gradually filter out content the user appears to not engage in. If people that "like" your ministry on Facebook tend to not engage, eventually that means they will not be seeing your updates in their feed. Content is King. What we produce and share on Facebook as ministries must viably offer something to the general public that provides a worthwhile meaning in their life.

Here are two broad ways that help us put perspective in our use of social media in the Church;

1. Having Transforming Content...not random informationWhat we offer people needs to matter. Yes, updates about events and schedules will still be part of Facebook. But we also need to offer an environment wear people can see the gospel truth of change. We tell stories through Facebook, we share our lives together and we provide the necessary tools for people to have this new life through Jesus. The directionality of our presentation changes, but the basic truth of Jesus doesn't. Get out of the mentality that Facebook is the 21st century Church Bulletin and into the reality of it being the prophetic voice of salvation.

2. Having Deliberate Christian Community...not generic friendsIt is real easy to just collect followers on Facebook. Facebook makes it handy to have a huge list of folks to message or present your latest video/sermon or bible study series too. Yes, the content we are sharing might be truly transformative. The additional part of this is making sure we see these are folks that we truly care about. Our content should be causing folks to encounter real life together in the actual world. The people that choose to engage with our ministries on Facebook are worthy of the same care and attention of those who spend time in our worship services during the week.

If we want for social media to be a viable way we reach people, it is necessary to follow the way Facebook chooses to distribute updates. When using social media, intentionality is key. Make sure your content is easy to digest and engage. Sculpt what you create to fit the way people are using and retaining information. Most of all, have fun with it!

July 14, 2011

A couple weeks back I asked this question on facebook and twitter; "What do you think is the most pressing Biblical Concept for teens?" I have to say, I got an amazing response. Below I have copied some of them in. Reading through them, what are your thoughts?

Crystal Farmer Boyd I agree with Adam, talk to them. I have done that with my teens at work before. Every teen and every group is different and have different questions and struggles. It also shows them that you respect them to ask for their direction on topics! I am a big supporter of group collaborations and equal leadership for the direction of a group.

July 2 at 5:11pm ·

Adam Davenport Yes as the leader, you can direct the conversation, but asking for input from them shows respect and that you care about what they care about, not just pushing your own adgenda.

July 2 at 5:13pm ·

Barry D Cram Purity Matters, Understanding Spiritual Authority, "Following Christ In A Consumer Society Is Hard But Worth It," and "Shut Up Because Nobody Really Cares What You Think Until You're Thirty" (the last one is optional :-)

July 2 at 5:15pm ·

Crystal Farmer Boyd Just remember what it was like when we were kids and someone started trying to talk to us about something we were competely not interested in....we just talked to each other and didn't listen. Let them listen to God through you, not listen to you ON God..OK, that's my 2 cents!! You will do great no matter what you decide because you are approachable and have a heart for God!!

I think the "why it all matters" question is very important, and I think many people (not just teens) don't really know why. I would suggest "After You Believe" from N.T. Wright on this topic as a resource book (not as a book to go through...See More

July 2 at 5:39pm ·

Bradley Davis A critique of David Hume's epistemology using only the works of Thomas Reed. Yeah, that's the one you want to do. I'm glad I figured it out.

Barry D Cram ‎"Why Genesis Chapters 1 Thru 11 Are Essential To Your Faith And Worldview" (if the Enemy can make you doubt the first 11 chapters of the Bible, it's over)

July 2 at 6:20pm ·

Barry D Cram ‎"The Controversial Five" (pick 5 shocking statements and teach on one each week). In one of those weeks host "Gay Day" at your church and have all the students invite their gay friends...

July 2 at 6:24pm ·

Barry D Cram ‎"Jesus and the Beattitweets"... (he was, you know, the original tweeter... Teaching and summing up life and parables with 140 characters or less)

Megan Peters few thoughts. one authentic relationship (true FACErelationship with others, with Jesus), also commitment as it ties into integrity. commitment sustains the love.. good luck bro. lucky kid

also identity is huge. kids/ adults- have no trust in BEing WHO they are, only what others want them to be, or what is expected of them. crucial to journey through your own story with complete honesty, acknowledging the 'good,the bad, and t...See More

July 2 at 10:24pm ·

Jonas Aaron Hamilton memorizing the Leviticus but seriously Proverbs which is the book of wisdom to young folks or identity

Alice Ward anything to do with bodies - like body image and sexuality. Teen's bodies are changing so rapidly, that body stuff is really important - and can tie into themes of incarnational living.

July 3 at 10:35am ·

Alice Ward body stuff can also include drugs/alcohol, materialism, etc. Really, anything to do with the physical body and how it ties into spirituality. Our culture teaches compartmentalization, so teaching that incorporates the two is important.

July 06, 2011

For anyone in pastoral ministry today, using social media is a must. Yes, it might be possible to get by without it....but I wouldn't recommend it at all. Most churches have a social presence and have figured out what works and doesn't work for them.

But for individuals in ministry, I have found there is one key extremely necessary to use social media as part of your ministry. You ready for it?

You have to actually USE social media.

I know this seems redundant, but please hear me out. I have seen countless ministers who use Facebook, Twitter or other apps just to announce things and talk about their kids. Nothing else. The beauty of social media happens when people begin to use it to share something deep about their live. When passions, fascinations and the day to day action of life are part of social media, community happens.

If you realize you need help, I offer a simple suggestion. There are two groups of people you need to look at in order to tweak your own style.

1. Look at a few other ministers that you admire. Check out their habits. Look for the ones that engage people in actual conversation rather than ministerial pimping. See how they might use services differently. Lately I have started using Instagram. The iPhone app creates a social space around creating great pictures. It has a really unique community and I use it differently than I might use Twitter or Facebook.

For a few weeks, check out how they use social media to engage their community. You will learn tons.

2. Look at how your folks use Social Media.If even a small amount of people in your church are on Facebook they can provide a wealth of knowledge towards the habits of your community. I once spent to much time on the Facebook game Farmville because my youth group was fascinated with it. Take some notes and start engaging them at the level they are currently at. If they use Twitter heavily, don't try to engage with them on Facebook. If they are really into different places around town, make sure you get on Foursquare and interact there. Maybe a few Youtube videos will work great with younger people?

Find out what makes the most sense and start at that point. You will slowly catch on to more detailed use and all this will become second nature.

June 29, 2011

Over the last month, my primary activity in life has changed. Instead of being a full time seminary student, holding multiple jobs, volunteering at church and blogging as a student, I now serve as the Associate Pastor of Contemporary Worship and Student Ministries at St. Paul's United Methodist Church. This change means many things. One of them was thinking how my blogging will transition. I spent most of a 12 hr drive thinking about this a few weeks ago and I have some thoughts.

I have always said that blogging should be an intentional activity. Just jumping into it without a plan really just lets your blog be a personal dump yard for random thoughts. If folks in ministry are writing online, they need to have a plan. The internet is part of their ministry. Here are the three areas I identified:

1. The Blog as an Experimental Playground:Many pastors, especially those fresh out of school, really like to use their blog to flex intellectual muscles. They might be in a doctoral program or part of an existing online community and they want to have a place to show personal study and deep thought.

I know some great examples of this type of blog. These are the guys I count on to point me towards resources I might never have found. Blogging keeps them connected to the academy and allows a continued voice in certain circles.

The Con of these blogs are they really don't allow the pastor to connect online to the folks they minister with. The occasional post might inform of a controversial theological or denominational idea, but generally isn't intended to be directed at those in the pew.

2. The Blog as a Personal Platform:These pastors are looking for a place to brand their ministry or find income in non-traditional ministry venues. They might travel often, or use the blog for connecting to a wider community than available in their immediate local. They could run a para-church ministry or serve in denominational leadership and the blog helps them communicate the wider sense of their ministry to those they might minister alongside for short periods of time.

The Con to this blog is for those who don't vocationally fall into this category. If you are serving a church and pimping your blog to get a book deal........you need to rethink your strategy. There are multiple reasons this can be unhealthy for your day to day ministry. If what you have to say is good enough to publish, the right folks will find you down the road.

3. The Blog as a Formational Pulpit:In current social media use, a pastors blog can serve as a relational platform for spiritual leadership. With Facebook "liking" and Twitter retweeting, congregants who encounter worthwhile blog posts can share them with those in their own network.

The means the minister needs to write in mind for sharing. They need to stay on top of culture. These are pastors that curate spiritual content for others. They understand the blog can be a great place of interaction, with those who want to go deeper engaging in these discussions. They tweet like Kim Kardashian. They can use the blog to talk about things that just didn't make the final sermon edit. They understand the fine line between challenging and confusing. In short; they see their blog as an extension of their ministry in the local congregation.

I think every blog will look different, regardless of the topic. Those in ministry will probably have a mixture of all three. I tend to think the weight should exist on the 3rd, but every situation is different.

March 18, 2011

As pastors who are involved in the web and social media, we point our churches (and wider networks) towards pieces of information on the web we think is important. We can be agreeing or disagreeing with the writers position or the information, but essentially we are placing content in the eyes of folks that might not see it. These intentional moves are Pastoral Curation.

Josh Sternberg wrote a great piece on Mashable about called Why Curation is Important to the Future of Journalism. Curation cobbles together information or objects and shares them in a direct way with an intended audience. Museums have curators, and their decisions with individual pieces are always directed towards the entire exhibit. Art shows are curated for much the same reason.

With social media, when you decide to share a blog post, article or any other bit of information you are contributing to the wider idea of some way you either define yourself, your brand or business. There are folks I follow on twitter solely because I know the content they spread is unique and high quality. I can easily pigeonhole what I get from them. What we link others to contributes to the wider sense of our ministry.

Here are a few notes regarding the intentionality that should take place if we want to be good (and responsible) curators for the folks that we lead in relationship to God.

1. Understand Curation for Growth.We point people to information that we think will be good for them. Sternberg notes that we should build trust. This is not something that is automatically given. Our congregations need to know that we have read and thought over this. Two things jump out to me first.

This isn't just information. There is a specific reason that we have pointed others towards it. Hopefully, the piece easily fits into the makeup of the community already and people won't be blindsided by it. Folks can easily see what should be gained from it.

Don't indoctrinate. Remember by linking to something, we are telling our congregations we approve of it. This is for growth, not control. We can't try to use other peoples information to try to control our congregations. We pass along what we consider to be relevant. Some of it we might agree with and some of it we won't.

2. Know what informs the needs of your congregation.Don't use Twitter or Facebook as a soapbox. The role of pastoral curation is simple; intentional and relevant. People should never say "Why is she/he pointing me to this link ? ". Don't be passive aggressive either. It isn't ethical to constantly use the internet to point fingers or proclaim how unhappy you might be with your situation. I see this more and more with the church leaders I follow.

If it doesn't relate to the fabric of life and social situation of your church, it might not be worth the click.

3, Curate at the level of your congregation.Perhaps this might be the most important. If you are serving in a small town in West Texas, pointing towards hip congregations in New York City might not be the best idea. But if you get wind of another church in a similar situation, it could be a great idea. If your congregation has only a few members under 60, consistently retweeting information for young adults wouldn't make sense. If you are aspiring to a higher level of academic training, linking to scholastic arguments makes no sense to a local congregation with hardly any higher education. We have to know our environment and actually have a plan regarding how we use these tools in relation to our congregation. Know who is online and how they use the internet. Encourage them to interact with you.

More and more church leaders are communicating around the internet in extremely apostolic ways. Your congregations are following/friending you, and that means you pastor them online as well as offline. We can't just pass this off as a social space where we don't have responsibilities. We want to give people resources so they can have deeper faith in God.

October 01, 2010

Mashable has a great article by Jolie O'Dell about the twitter habits of celeb Kim Kardashian. The article is about how Kardashian isn't the most followed celebrity twitter user, but her stream and approach to Twitter greatly differs from other celebrities that use Twitter. While I definitely am not a fan of the Kardashians (their moral aptitude made me question even making this post), whatever approach she has to twitter can teach Pastors a lesson. The article can quickly be summed up in these quotes.

In other words, if you have a whole boatload of Twitter followers, does that necessarily mean you have a whole boatload of power on the social web?....

Kardashian’s stats prove that popularity and influence — quantity and quality — are two different things. And we think the ability to direct web traffic is a pretty big part of influence.

The socialite tweets personable, relatable clickbait. Fans are alerted about pictures of her European outfits, a contest to attend her birthday party, a breast cancer awareness drive — the kind of content her fans clearly want to see. The rest of her tweets are social; such a statement seems obvious until you scan other streams that reek of PR and marketing influence, begging followers to buy a product or consume content. Other celeb streams are almost entirely link-free and designed to facilitate interaction around that individual’s personality rather than create a desired action in the user.

Kardashian gets the same amount of Twitter referrals to her website as Google. Her use is very different from other "famous" users.

How does this apply to Church leaders? I think there are 3 major lessons.

1. Do you actively realize your influence?If you are a pastor and have 300 actual Twitter users following you, that is an amazing amount of folks that are in front of you to hear your words and thoughts. Even if many of them are not under your pastoral charge, to them you represent a person handling the pastoral task in its various capacities.

This means that they have the ability to drive traffic to your church and it's various websites (and your blog if you are fishing for a book deal)...yes, but this is something much bigger than that. These are the people in the field waiting to hear from you. Twitter provides an amazing tool that puts real life, as much of it as shared, in front of anybody. Life that is lived intentionally and unintentionally. Life that speaks to how we spend our time, when we are with people or ourselves, and who we choose to interact with.

In times past, people fought over who brought the pastor or evangelist home for dinner. They did this because they wanted to be with them. Francis Asbury, was one of the first two bishops for the Methodist Church in America. He was a circuit rider, meaning he went from place to place on horseback. The stories of him interacting with people while staying briefly in their homes are part of the rise of American Methodism.

2. How you choose to interact with people.We all follow twitter icons. Those people who might be in our field, but are out of our range. Because of twitter, and the power of RT's and @'s, we can sometimes get in their sphere of influence. But this can become a drug. We constantly @ and RT them..hoping to get a little shoutout.

Part of Kardashian's twitter influence is how she is constantly pointing people towards many things, and not mindlessly referring to herself. Yes-sometimes these referrals are to her own website, but many times others. She has chosen to interact with "normal" people in a different way.

How much of your twitter interaction is with those immediately around you, in your town and in your congregation? How do you sometimes use twitter to try to leverage influence in streams outside your locale? What does it say to someone who you pastor when all you really do on twitter is attempt to build cred with whatever sexy pastor is in vogue this week?

Use twitter to build those relationship that are closest to you. It is a strategy that WILL build a very healthy community.

3. Realize the Power of Twitter.It isn't just a toy. Yes, twitter enables us to do many really fun things, but it is something we have at our finger tips to share the most important thing we have..the gospel of Jesus Christ dead and risen from the grave.

While I always advocate a highly relational approach to twitter, and don't inundate people with things...I know that the reason I use any of these tools is because of my love of the Triune God. Kardashian realized she could mobilize her fans, and it has worked. How can we use tools like these to encourage better and deeper love of God and love of neighbor.

In the various revivals of the 16th-19th century, many pastors took advantage of how cheap it was to publish things. They did....alot. They constantly put tools and resources into peoples hands to both lead them to God and to enrich the life they had with Him. The Church has always used...if not subverted technology the gospel, so using twitter is nothing new.

The Twittershere is not a realm outside of our pastoral vocation; it is yet another place for us to spread the gracious love of God.

May 29, 2010

I ran a blog series last month directed at new pastors and social media. I spoke with a good friend about the topic and he said that I should do another post about Church Websites. I agreed, because most are horrible at best and really don’t serve their best purpose.

5. Non church members are used in the photography.Stock photos can be expensive, and many times in order to save money churches think stock images will be cheaper than having a photographer come to a few events. The folks on the website are often picked by the web designer. With the advent of digital cameras, most churches have access to digital photography cheaply.

What I would do is find the best mom/grandmother who has tons of great images of their kids and enlist their help. Doing basic editing is accomplished through free software that comes with almost any computer ( I am partial to Apple iPhoto). In a few planned sessions, tons of great images of YOUR congregation can be taken and sorted through to find what should be edited and place in consideration for the website. If an event is sparsely attended, just find another that would work. I say this because I spent alot of time editing a video for a childrens ministry that didn’t work simply because it was a lightly attended sunday.

This is important for many reasons. It tells your congregation that they are good enough to be on the webpage, and models don’t need to be used. It gives people who are searching for the church an idea of the demographic of your congregation. It is an honest portrayal of who you are.4. Key information is hard to find.My number one pet peeve in this area is finding the staff. Often for the sake of relevance or seeker issues, the staff isn’t named. Please-make this easy to find. Don’t list it under other headings like “ministries” or some other Christianese. Call your pastoral staff what they are. I don’t want to see your 29 volunteer small groups leaders.

Realize that people go to church websites for very few things. The biggest reason for non members is to find out about your church. Make information such as service times, directions and staff really easy to find.3. Too much information. It’s great that you have an active church with many ministries. I also understand how hard it can be to get that information out to participants. But if you have a large amount of constantly revolving information, think about other avenues to get it out. I think facebook fan pages are great for this. Assign a few leaders administration access, and equally name every ministry (such as First Church Youth, First Church Children, First Church Worship...etc). Most churches need to have an official abbreviation now to use tools such as twitter, and facebook. Figure one out an make it official. Then begin to use these tools for this information that is specific to just a small amount of people in your congregation. Advertise these pages on your main website, but keep it clear for static information discussed in #4.

2. Cluttered Websites.These are the sites that were designed to be updated by the church secretary 5 years ago. For years they have been growing into an uncontrollable mass of information that is plagued by formatting issues, multiple fonts and dead links. Execute website bankruptcy and start from scratch. Either find the money to keep a designer on retainer (college students are great for this) or get a template site like clover. It will be worth it.

Once a new site has been established, make a policy regarding posting images like multiple logos, emblems, or pictures for every item on the site. Keep the site trim and locate primary static information in easy to find places. Take advantage of other means for your various ministry sites and link to them.

1. Outdated Information.If you are going to have a website, write a policy regarding when information will be taken down. When I was in college ministry, we had a few students whose job was to take down old flyers the DAY AFTER an event. Nothing was worse than seeing a ministry advertise for new small groups forming 7 months after they have been decided.

If you are going to keep revolving information on your site, keep it revolving. If you think the site will lay dormant for awhile, go through and clean up dated material. Nothing makes a church community look more dead than information that is 18 months old being at the top of a website. People will immediately make assumptions about your ministry.

These are just a few things, but I often think the worst is that churches aren't intentional about their web presence. I always encourage people to sit down and figure out why they want/need a site and then design in that direction. It will give you the best end result and allow for many of these kinks to be worked out.

May 05, 2010

Darren (of problogger.com fame) offers this great video on how he thinks the church can use social media. These are great thought from a great person. Darren has guided many people through how to use social media to impact their message, business and personal brand. ( HT to Andrew Jones)